Tag: pebble weave

Backstrap Weaving – Back to a Blank Slate

This white warp provided a fresh blank slate onto which I could weave any motif I liked using supplementary weft in any color.

I was very “creative” when I first bought my little apartment here in Bolivia. I wanted to try every novelty decorating technique that was popular at the time and cram it all into this small space! It was fun and then I was done. I had no desire to touch a can of paint ever again. There was water damage at one stage. I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to paint. After getting the cause of the damage seen to, I just hid all the flaking paint behind screens.

That matchstick screen on the right did the trick for years! Now every single wall adornment has been removed and won’t be going back up again no matter how long it takes me to sell this place and leave Bolivia forever.

I just now Googled how often interior walls should be painted….every 5-7 years. The horror. It’s now 23 years since I had my home decorating splurge.

Now that I face having to sell my place to hopefully eventually return to Australia, I’ve decided that I cannot inflict my eclectic and unique decorating style on potential buyers. So, I’ve been occupied for some time now erasing all that fun with coats of good white super-washable paint. It’s all going back to a blank slate and it’s amazing how much brighter and airier the place feels. It’s funny that even though there’s no creativity needed to simply paint things white, I’ve been having a lot of fun doing this job.

Fortunately, I have some weaving shots that allow glimpses of what once was. The point of this photo was to show a silk ikat neck gaiter that I’d just finished.

What’s been interesting is how mindless jobs like sanding and spackling have allowed my mind to also “wipe the slate clean” in a way and, in doing so, allow me to come up with plans of execution for ideas that I’ve been pondering for some time. One of these is a theme that I’ve been wanting to express in weaving: “She Needs no Embellishment”. This one’s been in my head for several years now and I think that I’ve finally pinned down how to go about weaving it. There will be hummingbirds.

I guess it’s similar to those months I used to spend away on weaving trips. The hours of mind-numbing waiting time in airports and on flights would bring me ideas in very unexpected ways.

This ad that I tore out of an American Airlines in-flight magazine gave me the idea to create ikat shapes and fill them with pick-up patterns.

I used that idea on-and-off over several years. The last piece that I wove in that way was this….

So, while I’ve been a little frustrated by being kept away from my loom, it has given me time to clear the slate and come up with new ideas.

In my last post, which seems so long ago now, I was talking about coming up with an idea for the double-faced supplementary-weft technique with which I’d been experimenting. I like the technique but was finding it hard to come up with a project which would allow both faces of the fabric to be appreciated and therefore justify the extra time and effort needed to create this kind of patterning. Thanks so much to those who left me a comment with ideas. Laura suggested a screen and I love that idea. I could probably use one in my place in Australia, who knows? But not one which sits on the wall to hide flaking paint! I’m thinking of one that can be used to stand freely and divide a space. In any case, I’ll weave the cloth and decide how best to use it later. But first, I need to get the painting job done in my bedroom studio space.

Since my last post, I’ve washed and hard pressed this little sample and am pleased with its sheen and drape. It was quite stiff with its double amount of supplementary weft when it was on the loom. Given the improvement in drape, I’m thinking that it may work after all as a reversible neck gaiter.

The neck gaiter can wait. I really have the urge to get a wide warp on my loom to use this technique and I just may have enough silk in my stash to allow that. I’ll spend the rest of my sanding time thinking about supplementary-weft colors and motifs. Hours spent staring at white should help! By the time I get done with the painting, I’ll have this project and the She-Needs-no-Embellishment piece competing for space.

I’m going to finish with some book talk. I know that many of my regular`readers must already own one or some of my books (thank you all so much!) but I do get new subscribers all the time and I’ll take this opportunity to let new folks know what I have to offer. I’ll just give three of my instructional patterning technique books a plug for now :-). All are available as PDFs or as spiral-bound books at Taproot Video. I provide direct links to each item below.

The cover of my Complementary-warp Pick-up book says that it’s aimed at “experienced band weavers”. By this I simply mean that you are able to set up a loom and weave a plain warp-faced band. What’s important is that the patterning method that I teach in this book can be used on any kind of loom that allows you to weave warp-faced bands. The structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave is one example of the complementary-warp structure. Some of the patterns in this book are in fact Andean Pebble Weave patterns. This book’s also available in German.

Here’s a fun little video clip that I made some time ago which gives a more complete description of this book and allows you to see examples of the patterns….

For my Andean Pebble Weave on Inkle Looms book, I took into account the particular characteristics of the standard inkle loom and adapted the methods that I had learned on the backstrap loom accordingly. I present three methods which all produce the same results so that each weaver can decide which one suits their particular style. I’ve used dozens of step-by-step photos, detailed descriptions as well as supplemental instructional video clips to walk you through the process. In this way I aim to address a variety of learning styles. The book is suitable for beginners at pick-up weaving or for those who would like to add another patterning technique to their repertoire. You do need to be able to weave plain warp-faced bands before taking this on.

Likewise, in my Warp-faced Double Weave on Inkle Looms book, I adapted the methods that I learned using simple horizontal ground looms here in Bolivia to the inkle loom. This book also comes with supplemental instructional video clips. It’s a more advanced technique for those who have already tried some kind of pick-up patterning and know that they enjoy this slower kind of weaving. The product pages on the Taproot Video website give much more detailed descriptions.I hope you’ll click on the links and take a look!

Hopefully I’ll be sitting in front of a new “blank slate” warp like this soon.

Backstrap Weaving – Belt Up

It’s just a short one this week as I’ve had other projects going on lately that have limited my time at the loom. I’m giving myself a bit of time off to write this post and then I’ll be back at them.

My stash of weaving materials has been reduced pretty much to one drawer now, most of it lovely silk in various sizes. I really didn’t have an idea of what I wanted to weave next. As you’ve probably figured out, my projects are born from a desire to just be at my backstrap loom weaving rather than a need for any kind of product.

I opened the drawer to see what would leap out at me and this is where I ended up…

This is the naturally-dyed cotton from Mayan Hands in Guatemala that Kate had given me many years ago. It was what she had left over from a towel weaving kit that she had purchased. The beautiful light blue thread was dyed with indigo. I love the washed-out look it has like a very faded old pair of jeans. The other colors were dyed by me using synthetic dyes….a variety of blues that I had used in other projects.

The light indigo-blue features in this bag for my cotton spinning tools and supplies along with the other shades of blue that I’d dyed myself.

Because my supply of this light blue thread was now so low, I’d need to come up with a smaller project than the tool bag. I decided on a belt using the same structures that I’d used for the bag fabric above.

That fabric was woven using both complementary-warp and complementary-weft structures, a combination that I’ve only quite recently been sampling and using. The darkest blue and light blue sections use the warp threads for making the patterns. In the other horizontal bands of pattern in other shades of blue the weft threads create the figures.

I used the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave for both. I turn the Andean Pebble Weave structure sideways in order to be able to weave it as a weft-faced rather than a warp-faced structure.

I started experimenting and sampling with this a bit over a year ago, first by alternating bands of weft-faced pattern with warp-faced plain weave….

I really enjoyed the way it allowed me to change colors at will. Then I decided to combine complementary-warp and complementary-weft in the one piece, rather than just doing plain weave between the weft-faced sections.

The orange and white sections are complementary-warp and the burgundy and yellow are complementary-weft.

The first challenge was to adjust the way I wove the warp-faced sections so that their width matched those of the wider weft-faced ones.

Then I was able to go on to weave the fabric for the tool bag….

Because both structures are complementary ones, both faces of the cloth show the same figures except that their colors are reversed.

The strap for the bag uses the same two techniques except that I didn’t weave any figures into the warp-faced sections. Using only one color instead of two in the warp-faced sections made the strap less “noisy” against the busy bag fabric.

Using a complementary-warp-float structure, even though it’s just in one solid color, between the weft-faced sections gives a thicker, sturdier band than I would otherwise get with just plain weave.

Now after all that introduction, we finally get to the latest belt project. I wove it in much the same way as the strap above….solid light blue warp-faced sections with no pattern alternating with patterned weft-faced sections. I had to alter the way I did the weft-faced sections so that my little hummingbird figures would be well proportioned. That meant passing my weft over and under groups of fewer warp threads so that the figures wouldn’t turn out stretched and “flattened”.

The little hummingbird figures that I designed in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave normally sit on my bands aligned like this, looking like they’re about to fly off the edge…

Weaving them sideways in the weft-faced structure meant that they would be flying along the length of the belt and be seen the right way up when the belt is worn. (BTW, I did actually try to design a different hummingbird aligned sideways on my charting paper but couldn’t come up with anything that I liked).

And there it is off the loom.

The first little fella’s beak was too short. I don’t think he’ll be able to get at much nectar with that. The split in the band at one end will allow me to accommodate the belt buckle’s “tongue”. This is the first time I’ve woven a belt and thought far enough ahead to weave that split. It certainly makes things easier when adding the buckle later. The other end is a nice selvedge, something that my backstrap loom allows me to easily create, so I don’t need to worry about hemming or otherwise stabilizing it.

I took a walk down to a local store called Hebilandia, which translates to Buckle Land. It’s in the narrow chaotic streets near my home which are packed with fabric and upholstery stores. I’m always glad that that the gentlemen there tolerate my requests for just one of this and one of that. They really are geared up to selling in bulk to professional belt makers.

There I got a buckle, a thingamajig to hold down the excess bit of strap, a metal tab to go on the end (although, it isn’t quite wide enough….not a problem because that end is a selvedge anyway) and some webbing that I used as backing. I always back my belts, even the heavier double weave ones, because I like them good and stiff. After having tried different things with belts over the years, I just go with gluing on the backing. Oh, and while there, I also got the holes punched. It’s such a great little store to have just a few blocks from my home.

Buckle, thingamajig, end tab and holes.

Now I’m pondering this….

Both of these are gifts from Australian fiber friends. Susan gave me that skein of silk many years ago and it caught my eye as a nice thing to dye to combine with the variegated silk that Will gave me on my last visit. I think they might both be 20/2. Now, I’ve never used variegated thread as warp before and I am not quite sure about the best way to use it. Many years ago I was given some stunning Just Our Yarn variegated tencel that I was using as supplementary weft. Most of it got used by my students in workshops and it was absolutely gorgeous as supplementary weft.

I love the mother-of-pearl colors in the thread that Will has given me and am thinking that perhaps I could combine it with a matching solid color in rep weave. But, I don’t know….does anyone use silk for rep weave? It seems like that chunky structure doesn’t suit the delicate nature of silk.

I’ve only ever done two rep weave pieces before in cotton.

But then there’s ikat. I think that dyeing a solid color over an ikat pattern in variegated thread could be interesting. You can see that the last thing I’m thinking about right now is the product! I really don’t need anything. Maybe it could be fabric for a pillow cover? I might have enough thread for the front, or at least part thereof, of a pillow cover which can be backed with something else.

Going through old photos the other day, I saw this one which reminded me that this silk ikat piece is sitting at the bottom of a drawer. The finer patterning is in supplementary weft.

Pillow cover came to mind for this piece too, something for when I am living in Australia, although I’m determined not to get into home decorating when I’m there. I’ll be starting from zero as far as furnishings go and want to keep things as minimal as possible. After clearing out so much stuff from my place here, it’s nice to see how little I need in the way of furnishings….as long as I have something to which I can anchor my backstrap loom!

I’ll keep pondering that variegated silk and let’s see where it takes me. Until next time….

Backstrap Weaving – The Empty Wallet!

With the new year comes a new (woven) wallet. I’m still very much a cash person which probably comes from the fact that I’m still living here in Bolivia. I had the experience of almost going hungry while spending an eight-hour layover in Atlanta airport recently. I couldn’t find a place that took cash but in the end was able to buy a yoghurt from a juice bar. It wasn’t quite the full American breakfast I had been promising myself after the long overnight flight. For a variety of reasons I didn’t have usable cards on me. Even the vending machines only accepted cards!

Mind you, Bolivia is moving along rapidly. It’s not unusual to see vendors in the street market displaying signs with their QR code on their humble stands. I find it’s way too easy to spend when using a card or electronic device. I prefer to go to the market with X amount of Bolivianos in cash and thus oblige myself to stay within budget.

If I were superstitious, I might think that I’m jinxing myself by starting the new year with an empty wallet! On top of that, I didn’t wear yellow underwear on New Year’s Eve which is the local superstition for attracting money. Red underwear attracts love.

If you read my last post, you’ll know that I wove a sample using my handspun cotton singles thread in preparation for this wallet project to see how it would stand up to being used for pick-up patterning. It involves a lot more handling than simple plain weave.

The finished sample showing its two faces. I used the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave.

The sample gave me the information that I needed for calculating the number of ends that would give me the right width for the wallet. I dyed some of my handspun cotton dark blue and black.

Here are my 632 ends set up with the two sets of heddles that give me my “pebble sheds”. It’s so satisfying sitting there and finally making the very last heddle and knowing that I’m all set to go.

However, in this case, I was not. I had neglected to dye some of the thread for weft. I could have got away with using white weft because I was after all planning to edge the piece with a tubular band which would cover the selvedges, but there’s always a chance that I’ll change my mind and go in another direction, in which case I wouldn’t want to see the dots of white weft at the edges. So, it was back to the dyepot. Luckily it’s summer here and things dry really quickly.

I decided to use part of the sample pattern that I had designed. And because I loved both faces of my sample band, I decided to plan this so that both possible faces could be seen at the same time.

A little progress and all going well. No broken threads yet. In the end, only one broke.
At this point, I was ready to put a bit more thought into exactly how I was going to construct the wallet and therefore, the layout of the pattern.

I got the idea of using the sample warp as a coin purse on the back of the wallet. I am always dismayed by the amount of coins I seem to accumulate when I am traveling. Australia has dollar and two-dollar coins (no one and two-cents) and the fifty-cent piece is huge. It’s not unusual for me to be carrying up to twenty dollars in coin! And in the US I’m forever handing over notes to pay for things because I never know how much something will cost until the tax is added at the register. With a line of people behind me, I don’t want to be scratching around in a tiny coin compartment for the right change. Urgh….all those pennies!

So, I wanted a large coin compartment from which I could quickly and easily fish out what I needed as well as comfortably carry all those bulky Australian coins.

This meant that it would be a waste weaving pattern for the back of the wallet only to have it covered by the coin purse. I got to do some plain Andean Pebble Weave instead which certainly accelerated the pace of this project. I returned to the pattern just to weave the final section for the closure flap.

Here are the completed pieces. From left to right, the front, plain back and closure flap. Construction can begin.

As usual, fusible interfacing was my friend when It came to cutting the cloth. I had a selvedge at one end but I cut a curve at the other for the closure flap. I used some black fabric that my friend Claudia had given me for the lining and to create the pocket for bills. All these pieces got held nicely in place by the tubular edging. The woven tubular edging that I use is woven and sewn at the same time around the edge. The sewing thread doubles as the weft. It fully encloses the edge rather than just perches along it. It’s a wonderful way to stabilize and protect cut fabric.

It can be plain (which is how I wove it for the wallet and the bag flap above) or patterned as you see below in the edging I used for a wrist cuff.

You need to get creative with how to hide the cut unwoven warp ends when you have stitched around and returned to the beginning. On the wrist cuff, I wrapped and sewed the cut end to the cloth. It wasn’t pretty but it was secure. I then covered it with a button which was part of the button-and-loop closure that I often use for my wrist cuffs.

For my wallet, I simply sewed a small tab of black fabric to cover the join.

Then came the task of figuring out card slots, zippered sections etc. on the inside. I created some black stitched shibori fabric for this. I included an unusual tiny pocket that I have always wanted to have in a wallet….a pocket that can only hold my door key. Nothing else fits! I get fed up with searching for my key in pockets amongst all the other paraphernalia that accumulates there.

The tiny key pocket is just to the right of the card slots. There’s a zippered pocket on the right for other odds and ends.
I remember being so pleased when I discovered that my key fit perfectly in the tiny pocket in this pouch that I wove. This pocket is part of the original warp and was not added later. Creating that special kind of warp that includes a pocket is a technique that I learned with one of my teachers here in Bolivia.

Here’s the coin purse on the back of the wallet…..

It was nice being able to use the sample for something.

And because I am skilled in creating expandable sides after my two recent folder projects, I added expandable sides to this purse. It’s very easy to get my hands inside, quickly find the right coins and avoid receiving yet more unwanted change.

So, wallet number one is complete. As I mentioned in my last post, I think I’ll make another using an ikat pattern this time. I’ve crunched the numbers and can start warping.

Here’s a reminder that I wrote a tutorial some time ago showing how I cut and prepare my woven fabric to take the woven tubular edging. At the end of the tutorial there’s a link to the tutorial that shows how I weave the actual tube.

I’d also like to give a big thank-you to those who responded when I plugged a couple of my books in my last post. Thank you for your support!

I hope you’ve had a wonderful start to the new year. Take care and see you next time.

Backstrap Weaving – Pick-up or Wrap Up?

Before I get into the Pick-up Vs Wrap Up question, I’ll show you the completed expandable folder that I was constructing in my last post. All that was left to do was find some buttons and braid some loops. Rather than go out hunting for buttons, I stole one, a good heavy one, from one of my many wrist cuffs. I then I found two small ones lurking in my sewing box purse. I had originally been planning to use them on that little purse but ended up going with snaps instead.

The sewing box purse with its snap closures.
The finished folder with one large central button and two side buttons to keep all the bulk contained.

I guess I’m in a weave-and-construct phase and have had the idea to create a wallet. I just use a simple plain-weave zippered purse here for notes and coins (it’s still pretty much a cash society here) but upgrade to a proper leather wallet when I am traveling and need to carry more stuff like Yellow Fever vaccination card, public transport passes, credit and debit cards etc.

Plain-weave zippered purses that were fun to create.

I want to use some of my handspun cotton singles for the wallet project. It won’t take much to create such a small piece of fabric and there’ll be plenty of thread left over for other more ambitious things. I finally got all the white handspun boiled and ready for use.

This is my supply of the Upland cotton variety.

So far, I’ve only used my handspun cotton singles in plain-weave ikat projects….three small pieces, a zippered purse, a draw-string bag and a slip case. The cotton stood up well and I love how the simple warp-faced plain weave shows it off.

I have another ikat project in mind using a soft butter yellow, burgundy and black and thought that this would make a nice wallet. But then I thought that perhaps I should use the cotton in another way this time. I’ve already tried it in ikat and know that I like it. Maybe it’s more interesting to try something new? It would be good to know how well the singles thread stands up to a pick-up technique like the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave, for example.

The process of creating both options is pretty intense! Ikat involves plain weave. That sounds so simple. However, it’s all that goes into the creation of the warp before it even hits the loom that makes it so complex. There’s the winding of the warp, the sectioning, folding and wrapping. Then comes the dyeing, more wrapping (if you’re dyeing more than one color) and dyeing again. This is followed by unwrapping, the careful settling on the loom and heddle making. Then you get to the weaving part which goes relatively quickly.

Wrapping the folded warp for the zippered purse project.

I’ve always liked these kinds of time consuming projects. These days I like them even more. They give me a whole lot of satisfying creative mileage out of just small amounts of materials.

As for pick-up, well that can be super intense as well, depending on the kind of pattern that I choose. As I’ve never used my handspun cotton for the Andean Pebble Weave structure, I needed to weave a decent-sized sample to gauge width. First, I dyed a small quantity black and wound a short warp of 320 ends.

That’s what it looks like on the loom.

I thought that I may as well go with a very busy pattern and give the thread, my fingers (and my brain) a good workout. Two threads broke. I’m quite used to working with black in pick-up and am pleased that these older eyes can still manage, although I think that my left one is doing most of the work.

Lately, I’ve been looking at textiles and basketry from the other side of the world….East Timor, Indonesia, Borneo…I guess with the idea of perhaps spending time in that area when I return to live in Australia. The pattern that I created for the cover of my folder was inspired by the shapes I have been seeing and in the same way, so was the pattern that I drew for this current project. It’s very busy!

The two faces of the band using the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave.

It was a good call weaving a sample (it always is) as I’d started off slightly too wide. It soon settled into a consistent width. I used the method that I was taught by my very first teachers from Ayacucho which involves two sets of heddles with pick-up being done at a permanent cross. I used the “saver cord” which they taught me to use (although, to be honest, I had no idea at the time what purpose it served!) I soon learned that it is the instrument that helps me to read the pattern and saves me from having to handle and count each thread one by one. Having a permanent picking cross (rather than constantly creating and re-creating a temporary one) saves the warp from a considerable amount of wear and tear.

I figure that if the singles thread can stand up to this amount of handling, it should be okay with any other less complex pattern that I happen to choose. Hopefully, I’m not getting too cocky here. If I were to use this pattern on the wallet, it would be aligned sideways like this.

I changed the last part of the pattern (on the right) as an experiment to see what it looked like with a bit more open space.

I’m very satisfied with this sample. It’s answered my question about the suitability of my handspun for working with this structure but I still have the urge to create the aforementioned ikat piece. I haven’t come up with a pattern for that yet, just the three colors. So the question remains…Pick-up or Wrap Up? Of course, the solution is to make two wallets! Why not? That will certainly keep me out of trouble for a while.

In the meantime, I’m doing something I’ve never done before…I’m using up leftover scraps from other projects. I usually can’t bear to throw them away immediately after completing a project. They hang around until I turn them up six months later and think… why the heck am I keeping this?…and throw them away. But these I’ve kept. Perhaps I’ve been watching too many HandyMum videos (she often uses the tiniest scraps of fabric from her vast stash of commercial fabric to make sweet projects). I’m making a sample wallet with them so that I can test my ideas for putting one together. It might even be good enough to keep and use.

I have bits left over from ikat projects using my handspun cotton (that black scrap, for example, is the end of the ikat drawstring bag project). There’s a bit from the ikat cross-body purse that I wove in 20/2 cotton. You’ll recognize the stitched shibori leftovers from my folder project. The other side of the stitched shibori rectangle that you see in the picture (which is the inside of the wallet) is leftover plain blue Andean Pebble Weave fabric from this project….

I thought I’d finish this post with a little bit of book promotion, which I haven’t done for a while! The structure that I used for my latest project is the one that I call Andean Pebble Weave. This structure creates patterns that are double-faced. Of course all cloth has two faces. What I mean by double-faced patterns is that both faces of the cloth are structurally identical with colors reversed. That’s how I created one face that has a white pattern on black with the same pattern on the back in black on white.

This is a characteristic of a larger category of structures that are known as Complementary-warp. The structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave is just one variety that sits within this category.

Some of the varieties of complementary-warp weaves.

In the picture, above, you can see at top left both faces of a pattern in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave with its “spotty” surface. The image top right shows another complementary-warp structure which is known as intermesh. It gives a very smooth, solid color appearance. In some places it is woven more open so that it does indeed have a very mesh-like appearance. However, my Guarani teacher here in the Bolivian lowlands weaves a very dense version which closes all the spaces between the warp threads. At bottom left, you can see the two faces of another variety with its characteristic diagonal twill lines. The image bottom right shows how a pattern can sometimes employ multiple structures, in this case, both pebble (center) and twill structures have been used side by side.

As for my books, here are two that I can recommend to those who would like to learn how to do this kind of pick-up. I wrote them for those who are already competently and confidently weaving warp-faced plain-weave bands and who would like to try one of the many kinds of pick-up patterning structures.

If you use what I call a standard inkle loom (the Schacht and Ashford models are examples), this is the book for you…..Andean Pebble Weave on Inkle Looms…

This book teaches three methods for weaving these patterns to suit different learning and weaving styles. It includes access to supplementary instructional video clips.

If you use any other kind of loom or set-up that allows you to create two sheds and weave warp-faced bands (including standard inkle looms) this is the book for you….Complementary-warp Pick-up…

This book shows one method that allows you to weave any kind of complementary-warp structure. It includes patterns in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave as well as other complementary-warp styles.

Once you’ve learned the methods in either of these two books, you’ll be able to weave the patterns that I offer in both my follow-up pattern books… Complementary-warp Pattern Book and More Andean Pebble Weave Patterns. All my books are available as PDFs or as spiral-bound books (shipped from Washington state, USA) at Taproot Video.

I wish you all the best for your celebrations and will see you in the new year with, hopefully, at least one new wallet.

 

Backstrap Weaving – Putting it All Together.

This post is about the second expandable folder that I’ve been working on….the weaving, the stitching, the ironing and the gluing. I’m posting all this as much for my own future reference as for the folks who have asked me for an explanation. I have written my notes in my weaving book but there aren’t accompanying photos as there are here. If the process doesn’t interest you, I hope that you will at least enjoy scrolling through and seeing the photos in this post.

The folder is only 99% finished because my box of random buttons that I’ve picked up here and there over the years is now living in Australia. Silly me hadn’t thought far enough ahead to select one or two to bring back to Bolivia with me for this project. I’ve never actually been button hunting here in Santa Cruz. Who knows what I might discover.

The button-and-loop closure that I used for the first folder. I’d like to use two such closures on the new folder, one on each of the plain weave side panels, as this second folder is going to be quite stuffed full of charts.

What did I learn from this project?…..that the cotton fabric I bought for the stitched shibori project that I planned to combine with my woven cloth shrinks a heck of a lot in the hot dye bath. I had to adjust my overall folder design to accommodate that. I’ll keep that in mind for future projects.

In my last post I showed you how different the two faces of this cloth turned out…both attractive in their own way. I eventually decided on using this bolder face for the folder project.
First things first…finish the main pattern fabric. At this point I was celebrating passing halfway.

Next came the weaving of the plain-weave side panels. I chose to weave these separately as the wool singles are particularly grabby in plain weave and I need to operate the loom in a certain way to minimize the amount of abrasion. The sheds are much easier to open when I work with warp floats in the pattern area and so I find that it’s an overall smoother and more efficient operation to just weave the plain and patterned areas separately.

I prefer to weave the two strips separately rather than as one long band which I then cut in two. That saves me having to set up to accommodate the longer warp in my limited weaving space. It does result in a bit more waste, though.

The woven pieces were then ready to assemble into one wide piece for the folder.

Just as I had done for the first folder, I joined the three panels using the cross-knit-loop stitch that my Vietnamese backstrap loom teachers use to join panels for skirts and blankets.

I hemmed the completed piece and lined it with my stitched shibori fabric. I also inserted two pieces of stiff card between the woven fabric and the lining….one for each half…..and added a line of sewing across the center of the piece as well, thus keeping the two cardboard pieces separate. I stitch by hand and I love doing this kind of straightforward stitching. At this point I discovered that the amount of stitched shibori fabric that remained was not going to be enough for my original construction plan. Well, we just have to adjust and make it work, don’t we?

These will be the fan-folded pieces that make the expandable sides of the folder. I use two for each side…one for each half… and join the two halves together as the very last step of the process.

The sides of my first folder extend all the way from bottom to top…

You can see the line in the middle of the fan-folds where the two halves are eventually glued together.

In order to fit the full height of the folder I needed 11″ of length for each piece of shibori fabric. I only had enough fabric for 9 1/2″. It’s more than enough to contain the sheets of charting paper that will be housed within the folder so it’s not a big deal…still, I think the side panels look much nicer if they can extend all the way to the top of the folder. It’s hard to believe that the cotton cloth shrank so much in the dye bath. I’m wondering if I perhaps failed to take into account seam allowance when I originally measured out the cloth. I didn’t take notes!

I ironed fusible interfacing onto the reverse of the four stitched shibori pieces and then created the fan folds. This cotton cloth is quite a bit heavier than the fabric that I used on the first folder and I had to coax it into holding nice crisp folds. It really didn’t want to.

And now, this is where it all starts to get a bit fiddly and I’m afraid that my photos aren’t great. I hope that my descriptions don’t sound as clumsy to you as they do to me!

The four fan-folded pieces are then sewn to the inside of the folder. The first folded section in each is sewn down flat along the the edges of the folder. That piece of cardboard is only there for the photo to help distinguish the folded pieces from the background lining cloth.

And now, out comes the iron and things get even fiddlier! I have a burn on the inside of my wrist to prove it. The next step is about inserting the cardboard dividers. Here’s a photo of the sides and dividers in position in the finished folder….

Think of the side pieces as being folded into a series of valleys and mountains. The dividers extend across the folder from mountain peak to mountain peak. There are two mountain peaks on each half of each side.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you come up with a much better way to do this which will have me slapping my forehead, but this worked well for my first folder and I haven’t since been able to come up with another option.

I cut five pieces of stiff card (8″ tall) and twenty 8 x 1 1/2″ strips of heavy fusible interfacing. I ironed about two thirds of the width of each interfacing strip to the two edges of each card, one to the upper face and one to the lower.

I hope this photo gives you the idea. This isn’t the tricky part, by the way!

My cardboard divider pieces now look like they are edged with an “open jaw” of interfacing ready to clamp down on and enclose something. They need to be ironed onto the fan folds so that they grip the mountain peaks. Yep, that’s the fiddly bit. For the most part it works really well, especially if you manage to keep your body parts out of the way of the iron. I used Wellbond glue for any parts that weren’t quite within reach of the iron. It’s good stuff and works really well. However, I prefer risking the iron to the mess of the glue. Plus the glue requires a much longer “cure” time than the ironed interfacing.

This process will utilize four of the five pieces of card. The fifth gets inserted at the end when you join the two halves of the side panels together. I used the Wellbond glue for this and could then sit back and give it the required amount of time to cure before placing my pile of pattern charts into their new home.

You can see the center join which forms another mountain. The interfacing tabs on the last cardboard divider are glued in and sandwiched between the two sections.
All I need to do now is braid some loops and find two nice silver buttons.

That just about finished off my supply of Petaluma wool. I have some left to use in my next venture into dyeing with cochineal which could well be my next project. I’ll be able to weave a (very) little something with it. If not that, I’ll weave cotton ikat cloth, using my handspun, and make another stitched shibori project for a wallet.

And here’s a reminder that Dorinda is in the States and will be able to mail orders of beautiful cloth and products created by my weaving teacher, Maxima, and the other ladies in the co-op they operate in the central Bolivian highlands. She can do this until December 6. The pieces ae made from the weavers’ own hand-spun and naturally-dyed wool. Take a look at the gorgeous range of colors they are able to create from local dye plants and cochineal. Finished products are available as well as just the cloth on its own for you to use in your own sewing projects. These are snippets of pieces that I have bought over the years.

You can contact Dorinda directly at dkdutcher@hotmail.com or via the PAZA Bolivia blog. I hope you’ll consider making a purchase for yourself or friends for this holiday season. And many thanks to those who have already done so. Dorinda keeps me updated!